Feeling pretty disgusted with myself.

 I didn't practice much but because Gerald Sakamoto's, or Rinban, as that it the title of the head of a temple, Sakamoto's retirement party is coming up, I thought I'd better get the shakuhachi out and practice it a bit. All the flute playing and breathing exercises I've been doing ought to make a real difference from when I played it last, right? 

Well, not really. I was worse. I worked a bit on the old goodie, Nori No Miyama or Dharma Mountain. Well, I did make progress in that the highest note near the end that always threw me, I've got a solution for - a different fingering I chanced upon. It's still tricky and I hardly can get it but even that's an improvement. 

I went to bed and thanks to my nice little alarm clock was up at 2 in the afternoon, got cleaned up and took care of Ebay stuff and all that, and headed to Japantown first. I had a letter to drop off at the temple for Rinban, an apology and since my leaving the temple had been by written letter, I kind of had to apologize by the same method. 

The situation is that I'd gotten sucked in by the idea of the 'Poor, poor Israelis" and decided that I ought to stand with them and by this I mean, convert and learn Hebrew and actually retire in Israel. This takes time and study, and between the two I saw that the Jewish religion and mindset are not for me, and that the Jews/Israelis like being in constant conflict and if they can, dragging other people/countries into it also. I finally woke up one morning and realized I'm not doing this, and it's been a definite weight off of my shoulders. 

So after agonizing over this for months I finally typed something up and put it, in its envelope, in the temple mail slot. Then I went into the office and paid $25 for a calendar that Rinban had made using his photos, to raise the funds for the retirement party. Then I asked about how the membership goes, is it first of the year to first of the year? It is. So I'll worry about that in late December. 

Then I wanted to pick up a couple of books from their educational materials, picked out a couple I like, and the lady there said "Take books, please!" and said they have them in their (it turns out very well camouflaged) free library thing across the street. 

I went over to Nijiya and got some boiled eggs that turned out to be gross, and a coffee. No wonder the eggs were half the price of the nice ones from Japan. One bite and I chucked 'em and went back in for a musubi. 

I went to the bank and put my pay check in, and confirmed my suspicion that the $130-odd that was taken out a week or two ago is from Ha'aretz, an Israeli newspaper that had apparently renewed my subscription but somehow I'm logged out as a member so I've got the worst of both worlds. Seriously F those guys and I'll have to see what I can do about that. 

I picked up bubble mailers at the Amazon place and went right back to the temple. Since they want to distribute books so much, I'd take a selection of them and put them in the little free library on 6th. So I went in to do that and who should suddenly be right there in front of me but Rinban! 

He was delighted to see me, and he'd gotten the other letter "A few months ago..." he said and I said more like a year at least. I told him I'd written another and it was in the mail slot, and kind of repeated what's in the letter, and asked about the shakuhachi things on the temple calendar for this and next Monday? 

He said he didn't know, but that maybe someone's scheduled some extra practice because they want to play during temple services. (Wow! Just what I dreamed of doing someday, playing at temple services!) and he said, reassuringly, "Just one song". "Is it "Nori No Miyama?" I said, hopefully. Nope it's Amida's Shrine".  I said I've saved all the music sheets so I'm sure to have it. 

I also asked if he had a PVC shakuhachi (he makes them) I could have, and we went into his office and he dug around in a drawer and found one and gave it to me. Such a nice guy! Now he had to get to a service he was doing (he was wearing ceremonial garb) and we parted, I think each of us happy to see the other one again. 

Then it was back to Nijiya for some things, after dropping off the books at the little free library. And back here. 

If I were really hard working, I had an house in which I could pack some things and get them over to FedEx. But I am not very hard working,  I don't think. 

Why do that when I could see how the PCV shakuhachi compares with my Shakuhachi Yuu? I think the PVC shakuhachi he'd given me years ago, that started this whole thing, played more easily. This one does not. It's kind of rough; the utaguchi (blowing edge) has a ridgy surface and the bevel where the chin rests isn't centered but off to one side. I think I'll mess around with it and see if I can fix those things and see if that changes anything. 

But I feel quite disgusted with myself. Yeah, trumpet's just about the opposite of any kind of flute and I'd really be fighting myself playing it and shakuhachi. But concert flute is such a different thing and so complicated that it's a world of its own and has effectively kept me from practicing the shakuhachi at all. 

I thought if I got a concert flute I'd be geared up ready to play Christmas carols this season and I'm nowhere near ready. Meanwhile I'm also nowhere with the shakuhachi and we're about ready to play during temple services? The thing I'd dreamed of doing? 

Meanwhile, in trying to find someone, anyone, playing, singing, hell even farting "Amida's Shrine", I found this: 

 

 

 

This lady is all of maybe 89 lbs soaking wet and she's playing like a boss.  

 

So it comes down to, what do I want out of the shakuhachi? To devote whatever is left of my life to it, to play this amazing music that isn't like anything else and that goes right through you. 

 

And what do/did I want from the concert flute? Something to busk with, that I could play music regular people would know, and that I could have some fun with. More range than I got on the trumpet, a lot smaller and easier to carry around.  At least in theory would not interfere with the skills needed to play shakuhachi. 

 

There are some unfavorable comparisons though. The shakuhachi is really intuitive, at least to me. The concert flute is not. The shakuhachi can bend notes, while unless I get a more advanced open-hole concert flute, I can't - I've tried. 

 

So this brought me around to an interesting little noisemaker, the Hall "crystal" flute. Actually borosilicate laboratory glass. Musical lab glass.  It makes a nice sound, I know, because I'd messed around on one. Can get nice and loud too. And you can bend notes until the cows come home. In fact, like a PVC flute I made over a decade ago from a piece of pipe I found under a tree, an old wine cork, and plans from the internet, all sorts of things can be played by half-holing plus all the note-bending fun. 

 

Long before I'd been introduced to the shakuhachi, I'd tried out a Hall flute and ultimately chose trumpet instead. Trumpet is a good instrument for the mainland, loud, very "Look at me" in a pushy way. As locals say back in Hawaii, "No make tanturan" which literally means "don't play a trumpet" in other words, don't be loud and boastful. Trumpet had been a good choice if I were staying here. 

 

But I'm not staying here. I'm leaving for home in a year or two, and will be able to learn from the shakuhachi teachers there of which there are a few which is quite a lot, and play the music that fits the place. Maybe even learn to make shakuhachi myself. It's not like there's any lack of bamboo back home. 

 

So I've just watched a ton of YouTube videos of various players of various skill levels playing Hall flutes, even an Indian guy who normally plays bansuri, who makes his Hall sound like a bansuri. And I was reminded of something that I'd learned before but forgot which is that the Hall flutes have just about exactly the same fingering as the pennywhistle which means there's a ton of music written for them. 

 

One final argument in favor is that Hall flutes don't cost much, being musical lab glass. I think the most expensive one of them, the largest size with offset holes, might be $100. A concert flute that's played much needs a service called a COA or Clean, Oil, Adjust, yearly. In other words I could drop and break one Hall flute a year and it would not cost me any more than playing a concert flute would. 

 

A further argument is the weather back home. It's tropical, there's no way around it. Tools rust, things corrode. Brass instruments tend to stink like hell. With a shakuhachi there's no worries because it's made of bamboo and of course with the various shakuhachi like my Shakuhachi Yuu which are made of plastic and such materials, again no worries. I'm sure Yamaha student flutes do better in Hawaii's climate than many others, but still they're made of metal and corrosion is a thing. Hall flutes will be the most corrosion resistant of any of them. 

 

So the upshot of all of this is I went to the Hall site and ordered one of their flutes in G, a cleaning rod, and a book of Christmas carols and even with Priority Mail shipping it came to about $133. I really can be up to speed on playing Christmas carols this season, and on a glass flute which people don't see every day. 

 

Part of the package is, if you buy something from Hall, they let you download their book on how to play their flute which includes a bunch of songs so I've got that right now. And I'm going to see if the music store will buy back my Yamaha flute because I can make out better with them than with Craig's List.